DAILY GK UPDATE - 20 - 21st July 2014

i. The 20th edition of the Games, to be held in Glasgow,
Scotland from Wednesday, will witness more than 4,000 athletes competing in 17
sports and 261 medal events.

ii. A record 22 para-sport events will be
contested in five different sports, with para-track cycling set to be held for
the first time. India is fielding their second largest ever contingent of 215
athletes.

iii. The biggest squad of 41 will be in
Athletics, while there will be no Indians in three disciplines -- netball,
rugby sevens and triathlon.

2.Sanjeev Kumar Singla appointed PS to
PM Narendra Modi

i. IFS officer Sanjeev Kumar Singla has
been appointed as Private Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, succeeding
Vikram Misri, who is going to Spain as Ambassador.

ii. Singla, a 1997 batch officer, is
returning home to serve in the PMO, after a posting in Indian Embassy in
Israel's Tel Aviv.

iii. Singla, earlier has worked as
Director to the then former Foreign Secretary, Ranjan Mathai.

iv. The Appointments Committee of
Cabinet (ACC) has approved appointment of Singla to the post of Private
Secretary to the Prime Minister in place of Vikram Misri, said an order issued
by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).

v. Misri, a 1989 batch IFS officer, who
was appointed as Ambassador to Spain in April, served as Private Secretary to
former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. After Modi took over on May 27, Misri was
asked to continue for some time. It has
been approved that Misri will continue as PS till July 31, the order said.

3.World
Bank Chief arrives in New Delhi; to meet PM Narendra Modi

i. World Bank President Jim
Yong Kim arrives in New Delhi today on a three-day visit to meet Prime
Minister Narendra Modi in order to understand his development priorities.ii. Mr. Kim will also meet with
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley during his stay in the country. Kim in a statement
said that the historic mandate from the people of India represents a tremendous
opportunity to unlock India's growth potential.

4.Three former CJIs made ‘improper compromises’, alleges
Katju

i. Former
Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju, Chairman of Press Council of India, on
Monday stirred a controversy by alleging that three ex-Chief Justices of India
had compromised in giving extension to an additional judge of Madras High court
at the instance of UPA government in the wake of pressure from one of its
allies, apparently DMK.

ii. Mr. Katju made the
charge while alleging how the three former CJIs - Justices R. C. Lahoti, Y. K.
Sabharwal and K. G. Balakrishnan - had made “improper compromises” in allowing
the judge, against whom there were several allegations of corruption, to
continue in office. iii. “These
three former CJIs made improper compromises. Justice Lahoti who started it,
then Justice Sabharwal and then Justice Balakrishnan. These are CJIs who can
surrender.

iv. Mr. Katju said since
he got many reports that the additional judge concerned was allegedly indulging
in corruption had requested the then CJI Justice Lahoti to get a secret IB
inquiry made about him.

5.Bolivia legalised Child Labour for Kids from Age 10

i. Bolivia on 18 July 2014 passed a law
to legalise child labour for kids from age 10. The bill was approved by
Bolivian Congress in June 2014. The bill was signed into law by the Vice
President of Bolivia.

ii. Under the legislation, 10-year-olds will be able to work
as long as they are under parental supervision and also attend school. It sets
12 as the minimum age for a child to work under contract. They also would have
to attend school.

iii. The bill also offers
safeguards for working children like the bill sets harsher punishment of 30
years for violence against children.

6.Canara Bank signs Rs1,170-cr loan pact for Kochi Metro

i. Canara Bank signed an
agreement with the Kochi Metro Rail Ltd on Sunday for a loan of Rs 1,170 crore
to the Rs 5,200-crore Kochi Metro project.

ii. This is the largest
loan offered by Canara Bank, which is Kerala’s lead bank, to a single entity in
the State. RK Dubey, CMD of Canara Bank, who signed the agreement with KMRL
Managing Director Elias George, said the bank was willing to support the
project further.

7.Irishman Rory McIlroy won British Golf Open 2014

i. Irishman Rory McIlroy
won the British Golf Open Championship 2014 held at Royal Liverpool Golf course
in Holyake, United Kingdom on 20 July 2014.

ii. Spain's Sergio Garcia
(L) and US golfer Rickie Fowler finished two strokes behind McIlory to finish
at second position.

iii. Rory McIlory has so
far not won the US Masters Tournament, the only Major that eludes him in
completing a Career Grand Slam. The Majors won by him are: US Open in 2011,
USPGA Championship in 2012 and the British Open in 2014.

8.Tesco appoints Dave Lewis as new CEO

i. Britain’s largest retailer Tesco plc on Monday
announced appointment of Unilever executive and turnaround specialist Dave
Lewis as the new CEO in place of incumbent Philip Clarke from October 1 as it
warns of ‘challenging’ market sentiments.

ii. Commenting on the development, Tesco chairman Richard
Broadbent said, “Having guided Tesco through a substantial re-positioning in
challenging markets, Philip Clarke
agreed with the Board that this is the appropriate moment to hand over to a
new leader.”

i. In Gujarat, the Braille Press at Blind People's
Association -BPA-Ahmedabad has come up with the Braille version of Oxford
Dictionary.

ii. In the first phase, the
English-Gujarati Oxford dictionary is being distributed to 26 schools and
resource centers for the blind in the state covering about 10 thousand blind
students.

iii. According to in-charge of Ahmedabad
Braille Press, the other centers like Mumbai and Dehradun have come up with
Braille dictionaries in the recent past. But these are English-to-English
dictionaries. The new English to Gujarati dictionaries have covered more than
70,000 words.

iv. Primarily translating Gujarati school
textbooks in Braille, Ahmedabad based Braille Press has also released the
Braille version of the first two volumes of Baal Vishwakosh -Children's
Encyclopedia.

v. As the limited resources are available
in regional languages, the new Braille dictionaries will open the new universe
of knowledge for blind students.

10.Rory
McIlroy wins 3rd major title at 2014 Open C’ship

i. The Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy clinched his first
Open Championship in Golf and third major title with a two shot victory over
Sergio Garcia and Rickie Fowler on a thrilling final day at Hoylake.

ii. After his victory, he has joined
Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus as the only players to win three of golf's modern
majors by the age of 25. McIlroy, 25, now just has the Masters left to complete
a career Grand Slam.

11.India among highest investors in UK

i. Indian projects figure among the
highest foreign investment in Britain in the last financial year, a year that
saw the highest inward investment into the country since the 1980s, official
sources here said.

ii. Of the top ten source-countries for
investment in Britain, India ranks seventh, with 74 projects during 2013-14.

iii. The figures were released before the
Commonwealth Games Business Conference in Glasgow on Tuesday and Wednesday
which will showcase to the world’s business and political leaders all that the
UK has to offer.

iv. The USA led the way as the largest
source of FDI projects for the UK, generating 501 projects, up 27%. The top
Commonwealth country for FDI is Canada. Canadian investment reached new heights
in 2013/14, with 89 projects, up an encouraging 41%.

12.AirAsia India starts Bangalore-Kochi
flight service

i. AirAsia India, which stated
operations in the country on June 12, now has services to Goa, Chennai and
Kochi from Bangalore.

ii. "AirAsia flight from Bangalore
landed in Kochi six minutes before the scheduled arrival time of 9.55 am. The
return flight also took off three minutes before the scheduled departure time
of 10.20 am," a Cochin International Airport

13.Wozniacki routs Vinci for Istanbul
title

i. Top seed Caroline Wozniacki won her
first title of the year and 22nd of her career on Sunday when she defeated
second-seeded Italian Roberta Vinci 6-1, 6-1 in the Istanbul WTA final.

ii. The former world number one has now
won a WTA title every year for the last seven years, winning her first three in
2008, three more in 2009, six in 2010, six in 2011, two in 2012, one in 2013
and now one in 2014.

14.Nomura forecasts 6% growth in 2015 for
India'

i. India is set to be Asia's biggest
turnaround story and the country's GDP growth is expected to rise to over 6% in
FY 2015 and over 7% in FY 2016, says a Nomura report.

ii. According to the Japa

nese brokerage
firm, 2014 would mark an inflection point and 2016 will be a watershed year as
Indian economy will start outpacing
China.

iii. "We believe India is at an
inflection point. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new reform-minded
government, the medium-term outlook is much improved," Nomura said in a
research note.

iv. "We expect real GDP growth to
rise from an average of 4.7% in 2013-14 to 6.3% in 2015, 7.1% in 2016 and 7.7%
in 2017," Nomura said.

v. The last three years have been
challenging for the Indian economy, with real GDP growth sliding from an
average of 8.4% over the period 2003-10 to 5.3% during 2011-13.